Food Recall From Listeria Threat Expands

Yogurt, salads, and sandwiches have been added to the list of listeria-contaminated foods recalled from Starbucks, Race Trac, and convenience stores in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida.


Previously, the list included some 7,000 pounds of ready-to-eat chicken, turkey, beef, and pork products.
The foods came from a single source: Flying Foods LLC, based in Georgia.

Starbucks says that even before the expanded recall, it had pulled all Flying Foods products off its shelves and destroyed them.

The products in the expanded recall were distributed by Core-Mark to various convenience stores and drug stores in all three states. They were also sold at Race Trac stores in Georgia and by Starbucks shops in Georgia and Alabama.

No illnesses associated with the products have been reported. However, listeria can cause fatal or disabling infections in some people, particularly people with HIV, people taking immune-suppressing drugs, elderly people, and pregnant women.

The recalled products are:

Core-mark Atlanta Division (distributed in Alabama, Georgia, Florida):

• 8.5-ounce packages of “Sano Very Berry Yogurt Parfait” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/23 - 8/3
• 8-ounce packages of “Sano Triple Cherry Yogurt Parfait” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/23 - 8/3
• 6.4-ounce trays of “F & L Café Salad, Chicken Caesar Salad” that have “Best Before” dates of 7/23 - 8/3*
• 6.9-ounce trays of “F&L Café Salad, Chef Salad” that have “Best Before” dates of 7/23 - 8/3*

Race Trac (distributed in Georiga):

• 9.05-ounce packages of “Turkey Quarter Pounder with Tomatoes” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17 -7/28
• 4.95-ounce packages of “Egg Salad” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 4.95-ounce packages of “Chicken Salad” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 7.8-ounce packages of “Chicken Quarter Pounder” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 7.38 ounce packages of “Turkey Quarter Pounder” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17 - 7/28
• 8.8-ounce packages of “Chicken Quarter Pounder with Tomatoes” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 8.4-ounce packages of “Jumbo BBQ Pork Sandwich” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 7.38-ounce packages of “Ham Quarter Pounder” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 9.05-ounce packages of “Ham Quarter Pounder with Tomatoes” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 10.17-ounce packages of “American Sub” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 5.57-ounce packages of “Tuna Salad” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28
• 9.75-ounce packages of “Turkey Wrap” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17 - 7/28*
• 10.3-ounce packages of “Chicken Caesar Salad” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17 - 7/28*
• 7.88 ounce packages of “Chicken Caesar Wrap” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17 - 7/28*
• 9.8-ounce packages of “Cobb Salad” that have “Sell Thru” dates of 7/17-7/28*

Starbucks (distributed in Georgia and Alabama):

• 6.6-ounce packages of “Egg Salad Sandwich” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 5.9-ounce packages of “Chicken Chipotle” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 7.5-ounce packages of “Tarragon Chicken Salad Sandwich” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 5-ounce packages of “Roma Tomato & Mozzarella” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 6.4-ounce packages of “Turkey and Swiss Sandwich” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 5.5-ounce packages of “Ham and Swiss” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 8.1-ounce packages of “Strawberry and Blueberry Yogurt Parfait” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/16-7/27
• 8.1-ounce packages of “Dark Cherry Yogurt Parfait” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/16-7/27
• 6.1-ounce packages of “Greek Yogurt & Honey Parfait” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/16-7/27
• 8.3-ounce packages of “Sesame Noodles Bistro Box” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15 - 7/26
• 5.3-ounce packages of “Cheese & Fruit Bistro Box” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 6.8-ounce packages of “Protein Bistro Box” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 5.9-ounce packages of “Tuna Salad Plate Bistro Box” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 5.1-ounce packages of “Hot Panini Roasted Tomato & Mozzarella” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 6.1-ounce packages of “Hot Panini Roasted Vegetable” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 6.1-ounce packages of “Hot Panini Chicken Santa Fe” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26
• 5.2-ounce packages of “Hot Panini Ham & Swiss” that have “Enjoy By’ dates of 7/15-7/26
• 8.4-ounce packages of “Chipotle Chicken Wraps Bistro Box” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/16-7/26*
• 6.3-ounce packages of “Chicken & Hummus Bistro Box” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/16-7/26*
• 4.6-ounce packages of “Salumi & Cheese Bistro Box” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26*
• 7.3-ounce packages of “Chicken Lettuce Wraps Bistro Box” that have “Enjoy By” dates of 7/15-7/26*

*These packages bear the USDA establishment number "P-34373" or EST. 34373 inside the USDA mark of inspection.

Walter Reed Hospital Holds Closing Ceremony

History has marched through the halls of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where presidents, princes, kings and generals mingled in their hospital gowns. 

Lyndon B. Johnson visited an ill, pajama-clad Richard M. Nixon during the 1960 campaign. President Harry S. Truman went to his first church service here after taking office. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill that established the Interstate highway system in 1956, while a patient here, according to John Pierce, a retired Army colonel and an expert on the history of the hospital. Eisenhower later spent the last 11 months of his life in the presidential suite, as his health declined, his wife, Mamie, living in a small room nearby.

So Walter Reed’s closing — scheduled for the end of August when the keys to its stately brick buildings will be given to the State Department and the District of Columbia — drew an emotional response from many gathered Wednesday to commemorate the occasion. Flags were folded and put away. Songs were sung. A sword was handed down, to symbolize the transition.

“These doors may close, the address may change, but the name, the legacy and, most important, the work and healing will endure,” said John M. McHugh, secretary of the Army, in a speech at the ceremony.
It was the end of an era for Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the principal hospital for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, which next month will be moved to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and to a new facility in Fort Belvoir, Va.

The hospital’s patients will be moved in ambulances one by one, and outpatients, currently about 430, many of whom live in housing in the Walter Reed complex, will be moved in cars and moving vans over two weekends in August.

Maj. Gen. Carla G. Hawley-Bowland, commander of the Army’s Northern Regional Medical Command, to which Walter Reed belongs, said the move was intended to reduce the number of facilities — three in the Washington area, including Walter Reed — in order to better fit the military’s needs. Treatment has improved significantly in the past two decades and today requires less inpatient care, and more outpatient capacity, something the new medical centers will have, the general said.

The center’s reputation took a hit in 2007, when The Washington Post published a series of articles exposing poor living conditions and excessive bureaucracy for soldiers at the hospital. In response, officials established a unit designed to assist troops in every stage of the recovery process.

Its medical care is among the best in the country, particularly in the area of prosthesis, which have improved significantly since the Persian Gulf war in 1991. General Hawley-Bowland said soldiers now had prosthetic arms that allow them to do push-ups and hold rifles, innovations that did not exist for patients in the past.

Joao Silva, a photographer for The New York Times who was wounded in a mine blast in Afghanistan last fall and has been treated in the facility, is now walking briskly on his prosthetic legs. He photographed the event for the newspaper.

Charles Dasey, a spokesman for the hospital, said the number of inpatients, currently about 150, will decline to about 50 by the time of the move. New patients, who arrived on a regular schedule Tuesday night, will begin to be diverted directly to Bethesda in early August, he said.

The ceremony, which concluded with parachutists swooping down on the hospital lawn with colored smoke trailing behind them, was a chance for everyone to come together before the move began, General Hawley-Bowland said. “This brings closure,” she said. “It’s a celebration of what Walter Reed has meant.”
Gen. John J. Pershing and Gen. Douglas MacArthur died here. In 1960, Nixon, haggard and thin with an infected knee, left the hospital against his doctors’ advice to take part in the first televised presidential debate, according to Mr. Pierce.

It grew from 80 beds to more than 2,500 during World War I. It now has a capacity of about 250, and serves approximately 150,000 soldiers, their family members and military retirees.

The refurbished Bethesda facility, to be renamed the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, will have a 340-bed capacity, Mr. Dasey said, and will be run by all branches of the military, not just the Army.

Patients with the most serious injuries will be taken there. The new Fort Belvoir hospital will have 120 beds.

Together, their capacity is enough to cover the current number of patients, Mr. Dasey said. Any surge in need will be handled, in part, by retirees being treated in civilian hospitals.

“This place carries a lot of memories,” General Hawley-Bowland said. She added, “My folks will take Walter Reed’s legacy along with them.”

By SABRINA TAVERNISE

Holly Petraeus Works to Protect Military Families' Finances

As a longtime financial advocate for military families, Holly Petraeus knew she could bring extensive work experience to the table when she was tapped to lead the new Office of Servicemember Affairs earlier this year.

But for this Army spouse who grew up in a military family, it’s more than just a job.
“It’s very personal,” said Petraeus, wife of Army Gen. David H. Petraeus. “I’ve lived in this military community my whole life; I have a real heart for these people. They’ve all raised their hand to do what they do, often at the risk of their lives.”

With Petraeus at the helm and after months of ground work, the Office of Servicemember Affairs officially opened its doors this week as part of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It’s designed to protect service members and their families from financial predators and pitfalls through education and enforcement of state and federal laws.

Having grown up in the military culture, Petraeus said, she’s familiar with many financial issues, but has made a point to meet with service members and their families across the nation to find out about their challenges firsthand. Mortgages and spouse employment top the list of concerns, she said, which isn’t surprising in light of the struggling economy and housing market.

When service members get orders to move, they’re often under water on their mortgage, she said, meaning they owe more than the house is worth.

“There are no easy answers,” she said. “Some [service members] are choosing to leave their families and go forward by themselves to the next assignment, which is really like another deployment, but for financial reasons.”

Foreclosures are another pressing concern, Petraeus said, noting the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act offers some protections to service members serving on active duty. For example, if a mortgage predates military service, then the service member is protected from being foreclosed against without a court order. Additionally, through the act, service members can ask for their interest rates on debt to be lowered to 6 percent, if the debt was accrued prior to active military service.

However, she said, some lenders aren’t complying with this act. In some cases, service members didn’t get an interest rate reduction or were told they did, but the records didn’t reflect that it had happened. “Families started getting calls from collectors, and in some cases, it evolved into threats of foreclosure,” she said. “And all this was while the service member was deployed and trying to do an important job.”
Additionally, some large banking institutions discovered they had foreclosed on a number of people without a court order, she added.

In turn, frequent moves can be challenging for military spouses who would like to pursue a career, she said. Spouses also often run into roadblocks when trying to renew an occupational license in a new state of residence, or when applying for a new one.

In her travels, Petraeus said, she also hears about general consumer issues, such as difficulties finding a good deal for a car or the burdens of credit card debt.

“For a new recruit getting a paycheck for the first time, there’s a temptation to spend it on cars, electronics, all those things you think you have to have,” she said. “Then you get locked into a contract for years where you’re paying back for that thing.”

The Office of Servicemember Affairs will help to address these issues, and more, Petraeus said. The office, she explained, will ensure military personnel are given a quality financial education, monitor consumer complaints and the response to those complaints, and work with other federal and state agencies to help resolve issues.

Service members represent “a large population that gets a guaranteed paycheck and are very attractive to people who want to get a piece of that paycheck,” she added. “By and large, they’re young, and they may not be very experienced as well in consumer things, and that can hurt them too.”

While financial issues can hit any family hard, they can have a resounding impact on a military family, Petraeus said. A bad credit report can lead to a lost security clearance, she noted. And financial issues can take their toll on a family already dealing with the stressors of deployment.

Military members and their families make great sacrifices and deserve the best financial protections in return, she said, “and I’m in a position to do something about that.”

By Elaine Sanchez
American Forces Press Service


 

Budget Woes Top List of Concerns in Afghanistan

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan, July 30, 2011 – Budget cuts -- not operational issues -- are the main concern of soldiers and Marines assigned here.

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is holding troop talks throughout the country and is being peppered with questions about the U.S. debt crisis and the future of military benefits.

Mullen thanked service members in Kandahar and here for their sacrifices. At both talks he stressed the effects of change and being ready for unexpected change. He also stressed the need for leadership at all levels.

Then he threw the floor open for questions. In both places, soldiers and Marines expressed concern about the debt negotiations. “The discussion really centers on providing by law an increase in the debt ceiling so the United States can pay its bills,” the chairman said. “And the bills really run the full spectrum. I really don’t know the answer to the question to how, if we default, how that will work out.”

The U.S. Treasury delivers service members’ pay checks, and sends them to veterans and Social Security recipients. “That’s something that the government leadership will have to figure out,” he said. “I honestly hope we don’t get there. But I don’t expect it will affect -- certainly in the short term -- operations here and operations around the world.”

Assuming a solution to the debt crisis is reached, the chairman discussed what the defense budget will look like. He said there is increasing pressure overall on the federal budget to reduce the deficit. This has to be addressed, he said.

“I’ve said for a long time, I believe that the single biggest threat to national security is this growing debt,” he said. “The more that grows the more likelihood that the defense budget will get smaller.”

This is a problem because no one knows what could confront the United States in the future. “We have some significant national security requirements to meet now, and the best I can tell, they are not going to go away,” Mullen said. “As that budget pressure builds … we’re going to have to make decisions on what we’re going to do and what we’re not going to do.”

Still, the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are on the top of the Defense Department’s priority list. All the defense leaders, he said, “are very focused on getting you what you need here in the fight. I don’t see any circumstances where that won’t be at the top of the list.”

Hiring Vets Makes Positive Investment, General Says

Hiring military reservists and veterans is a positive investment for America, the deputy director of U.S. Army Reserve Command told federal hiring officials yesterday.

Army Maj. Gen. Jon J. Miller, deputy commanding general of U.S. Army Reserve Command, tells federal human resource managers how the Employer Partnership of the Armed Forces program can help them find qualified veteran candidates for jobs during the Veterans Employment Symposium, July 27, 2011, in Washington, D.C. U.S. Army photo by Lt. Col. Matthew J. Leonard (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

Reservists and veterans have a "vast resource of capabilities" that provides a distinct hiring pool for federal civilian jobs, Army Maj. Gen. Jon J. Miller said at the Veterans Employment Symposium, held here by the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Labor and Homeland Security, and the Office of Personnel Management. The purpose of the symposium was to help federal hiring officials improve practices for hiring veterans.

Miller highlighted the Employer Partnership of the Armed Services, which the Defense Department created last year to help separating service members, veterans and reservists find jobs.

"The Employer Partnership career portal is like a Monster.com, but tailored for the military," Miller said. "Not only can job seekers find positions they are looking for, but employers can also reach in and find the quality candidates they need."

The general said it makes sense to hire veterans and reservists, since the military has spent so much effort to grow them into leaders. "And not just leaders in the field, while in uniform," he added. "We've taught them to be leaders in whatever they do."

The Army Reserve has adopted the idea of transitioning soldiers from active duty to reserve duty, while keeping the door open to shift between statuses until the soldier retires, Miller said. "Although we want them to continue to serve in America's army in uniform, we are nonetheless doubly gratified when they answer another call to public service," he said.

Service members are trained in a wide spectrum of disciplines, Miller noted, including health care, transportation, logistics, public safety, engineering, construction and many others.

Navy Vice Adm. Kevin McCoy, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command, told symposium participants about the command's focus on hiring wounded warriors. The command began its efforts two years ago, hiring 84 wounded warriors in fiscal 2009. Last year, the command hired 283 wounded warriors, and has hired 337 so far this year, he said.

McCoy has called hiring wounded warriors "a moral imperative." On July 22, he signed an agreement, along with Gen. Ann Dunwoody, commander of U.S. Army Materiel Command, to partner in hiring veterans with service-connected disability ratings of 30 percent or more.

"It is not about what we can do for them, but what they can contribute to making our missions successful for the warfighter," he said. "These wounded warriors will be able to translate their battlefield experience into our work, which is supporting the warfighter -- a job they know well."

Existing civilian hiring procedures do not connect wounded warriors to jobs, McCoy said, and it is not enough to pull from a list of qualified names. Rather, he said, hiring officials "have to be where warfighters are, rather than waiting for them to come to you."

By Lisa Daniel
American Forces Press Service

Heroes Today founder / CEO elected to PA Peer Support Coalition Steering Committee

The Pennsylvania Peer Support Coalition is a statewide network of people who use their own mental health recovery experiences to support others. Coalition members are people who use peer support skills to inspire hope that recovery from mental illness is possible. READ MORE>>

Veterans face high unemployment after military service

Unemployment among recently returned veterans, already in double digits, is poised to get worse as more soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The jobless rate for veterans who served at any time since September 2001 — called Gulf War-era II veterans — was 13.3% in June, up from 12.1% the month before, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In June 2010 it was 11.5%.

The difficulties veterans face in finding work was in evidence Sunday at the Hiring Our Heroes job fair at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, where more than 1,000 veterans converged to meet with employers and seek work. The veterans also got a peek at newlyweds Prince William and Catherine, who dropped by the fair as part of their tour of the Golden State.

READ MORE>>

New social site for PTSD/TBI called PHILIA ( site launched 27 July 2011)

Philia (φιλία philía) means friendship or brotherly love in modern Greek. It is a dispassionate virtuous love, a concept developed by Aristotle. It includes loyalty to friends, family, and community, and requires virtue, equality and familiarity. In ancient texts, philos denoted a general type of love, used for love between family, between friends, a desire or enjoyment of an activity, as well as between lovers.

Philia is a site created by Heroes Today (www.heroestoday.org) and dedicated to the education and awareness of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brian Injury (TBI) in our military. We have provided this platform for veterans, currently serving military, family members and friends to come together and support one another in the process of healing. This is also a site to learn more about the complexities of PTSD/TBI and to empower yourself to engage veterans or military members in your local communities who may be suffering from these ailments.

Finally, a site that allows people from all over the world to share and grow together through interactive communication between individuals or groups that are learning more about PTSD/TBI no matter where they are located. Feel free to browse around, introduce yourself in the forums and comment on stuff. Dont forget to bookmark this site to your favorites and tell all your friends.

Advocates don’t want budget balanced on wounded veterans’ backs

Advocates for veterans Wednesday called on the federal government to honor its commitments to provide lifetime care for wounded service members, despite debt crisis pressure for budget cuts.

The calls came during a hearing before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee about the growing long-term human and financial costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Department of Veterans Affairs health-care system could face $40 billion to $55 billion in costs treating veterans from the conflicts over the next 10 years, depending on how troops are deployed in the future, according to an estimate presented at the hearing by the Congressional Budget Office.

Congress and the Obama administration must keep those costs in mind as they try to work out an agreement on the debt crisis, said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chairman of the committee. “We must remember that we can’t balance our budget at the expense of the health care and benefits our veterans have earned,” Murray said. “Their sacrifices have been too great.”

“I’m here to tell you, put your money where your mouth is,” Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, testified. “We are worth it.”

Crystal Nicely, wife of Marine Cpl. Todd Nicely, who lost his arms and legs during a patrol in Helmand province in Afghanistan last year when he triggered a makeshift bomb as he crossed a bamboo bridge, described the problems the couple has encountered seeking treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Todd Nicely attended the hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, walking in and out of the hearing room using prosthetic legs. He had to wait almost 70 days for paperwork confirming that he had lost four limbs to be approved, delaying his release from the military and holding up plans to prepare for the next phase of his life. The papers were signed this week, after Murray made inquiries to Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn III, Crystal Nicely testified.

“It should not take my talking with a United States senator to make that happen,” she said. “More importantly, what about all the other wounded Marines who have not had the chance to ask for that kind of help?”

“Does it take senators kicking butt to get help?” asked Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass). “If a prompt determination can’t be made for someone who’s lost all four limbs, what hope is there for someone who has lesser wounds?”

“What is upsetting is the lack of support, compassion and benefits for these individuals,” Crystal Nicely said. “It needs to be just a little bit easier.”

The White House and Democratic congressional leaders have warned that payments to veterans might be at risk if a debt agreement is not reached.

Rieckhoff, who attended a briefing on the debt crisis Tuesday at the White House with representatives of other veterans organizations, said, “We came back with no real additional information.”

Veterans, including some suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other disabilities, “don’t know if the paychecks are coming,” he said. “They’re extremely concerned and scared.

“This is ridiculous. It’s outrageous,” Rieckhoff testified. “We need clarity from you all in this town, and we haven’t gotten any.”

A “virtual march on Washington” on Facebook, sponsored Wednesday by Disabled American Veterans, received heavy participation, according to a spokesman for the organization. “We’ve had thousands and thousands of comments,” Joseph Chennelly said. “It’s being heard. We’re making sure Congress and the White House are listening.”

by Steve Vogel

Walter Reed, Bethesda on Track for Realignment

The transfer of Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s functions to Bethesda, Md., and the construction of a new hospital on Fort Belvoir, Va., are expected to be completed on schedule, top military health care leaders said yesterday.

Navy Vice Adm. John M. Mateczun, commander of Joint Task Force National Capital Region Medical, told Pentagon reporters that the mission to consolidate and integrate military health care functions in the National Capital Region is well under way, with 9,400 medical personnel and patients expected to finish moving by the end of August.

Under the Base Realignment and Closure Act of 2005, the Defense Department was required to combine four inpatient hospitals in the national capital region -- Walter Reed, the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, DeWitt Army Community Hospital at Fort Belvoir, Va., and Malcolm Grow Medical Center at Joint Base Andrews, Md. -- into two, while maintaining the same patient care capacity.

“This is the largest medical restructuring ever undertaken in the military health system,” Mateczun said, adding that military medical officials are concentrating on three areas of priority throughout the process.

“One is quality of care -- all of the patient care that we’re providing,” Mateczun said. Focus also is being placed on the wounded, ill and injured service members presently under medical care, he added.

The third area of priority, he said, is “the capacity to take care of the wounded, ill and injured who are returning now from Iraq and Afghanistan as we do these moves.”

The new facility at Bethesda will include 345 medical-surgical beds, 50 intensive care unit beds and 20 operating rooms, while the expanded DeWitt hospital will hold 120, 10 and 10, respectively, Mateczun said.

The two facilities should have more than enough capacity to care for all combat casualties, as well as family members and veterans, Mateczun said, especially because military medical facilities nationwide and civilian TRICARE medical plan partners can take additional cases if the need should arise.

Of the 445 wounded, ill and injured soldiers currently assigned to the Warrior Transition Brigade at Walter Reed, about a third will transition to DeWitt, while the other two-thirds will move to the Bethesda facility, said Lt. Col. Larry Gunther, the brigade’s executive officer.

Both Bethesda and Belvoir have added and renovated barracks and lodging facilities for these service members and their families.

Patients moving to DeWitt are more ambulatory and need less specialized and intensive care, Mateczun explained. They also may have post-traumatic stress, mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injuries or substance-abuse problems, as the Fort Belvoir hospital is adding additional inpatient behavioral health and substance-abuse programs.

Service members evacuated from the combat theater and patients who need very specialized care for catastrophic injuries, such as complex orthopedic trauma and open traumatic brain injuries, will go to the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, along with the specialized doctors and other medical professionals who care for them. Complex surgeries such as organ transplants also will be performed at the Bethesda facility.

Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which has served the nation for 102 years, will close its doors Sept. 15, and a ceremony to case the colors of all Walter Reed activities will take place July 27.

By Elizabeth M. Collins
Army News Service

World Military Games Underway in Brazil

Four thousand military athletes from 109 nations are gathered in Rio de Janiero competing in a wide variety of sports.

VIEW VIDEO>>

New Guide Helps Communities Aid Homeless Women Vets

The Women’s Bureau of the Department of Labor has released an online publication that will help community service providers aid homeless women veterans, Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis said today.

Solis addressed an audience of several hundred at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Theater on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.

“Where we’re falling short in meeting the challenge of service women is when they come home,” Solis said.
“Too many women who once wore our uniform now go to sleep in our streets,” she added. “It breaks my heart to see that because many of them are sick [and] in need of help, and many are hungry. And it isn’t just them -- some of them have children.”

The publication, called Trauma-Informed Care for Women Veterans Experiencing Homelessness: A Guide for Service Providers, also known as the Trauma Guide, is the result of nationwide listening sessions with women veterans and service providers about the challenges of homelessness.

Women now make up 20 percent of new recruits, 14 percent of the military and 18 percent of the National Guard and Reserve.

Women represent only 8 percent of veterans, according to the guide, but they are at a four-times-greater risk of homelessness than their nonveteran male counterparts.

The female veteran population is estimated to grow from 1.8 million in 2010 to 2.1 million by 2036, according to Labor Department statistics, resulting in a greater likelihood that more women veterans will need physical and psychological services.

Today, service providers often treat women veterans using the same methods used for their male counterparts.
“This guide acknowledges the experiences and challenges facing women veterans,” Solis said, “and will result in better assistance and better outcomes for these deserving women.”

According to the guide, research suggests that up to 93 percent of female veterans have been exposed to some kind of trauma, including before they joined the military services. And Defense Department officials say one in three military women has been sexually assaulted, compared to one in six civilians.

Women in the military also have different kinds of problems from those of their male counterparts, the guide says.

“According to a report by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, more than 40 percent [of women in the military] have children, and about 30,000 single mothers have been deployed,” the guide says, and women report higher levels of stress over the impact of their deployment on family and relationships.

The needs of homeless women vets include therapy to address the impact of trauma, supportive services, transitional employment and job training, safe living environments and options for substance abuse treatment.

For those who provide services to these women, the principles of trauma-informed care include understanding trauma and its impact; promoting safety; ensuring cultural competence; supporting control, choice and autonomy; and understanding that recovery is possible.

“No one,” Women’s Bureau Director Sara Manzano-Díaz said, “pays a higher price for freedom than our veterans and their families and we owe them a debt of gratitude.”

Solis said the new guide isn’t just about the Labor Department.

“I want to thank the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, the Office of Personnel Management, the White House and … all the branches that are here,” Solis said, “because we’re all in this together.”

DOD Continues to Study Dust, Burn Pit Health Effects

The Defense Department continues to be concerned that airborne dust and smoke may pose health risks to deployed service members, the department’s chief of health assurance said here yesterday.

However, R. Craig Postlewaite told the Pentagon Channel, there is no evidence to suggest that service members deployed to U.S. Central Command are being disproportionately affected by environmental factors.
“DOD believes it is plausible that some individuals could be adversely affected by either the smoke or the sand and dust [in the region],” Postlewaite said.

Of the millions of service members who have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, only about 100 have been affected by these conditions, Postlewaite said. The department vows to give the best care to any service members ill for any cause, he added, including environmental exposures.

Health specialists will examine the service members to find out why they are affected and others are not, Postlewaite said.

“What’s different about these people?” he asked. “[Did they have] more exposure? Pre-existing conditions? Genetic susceptibilities?”

Officials also will ask if their conditions could be the result of combined exposures – dust, smoke and tobacco, for example.

Postlewaite’s organization oversees testing to ensure service members’ health. Deployment operational health surveillance characterizes hazards present in the air, water or soil in deployed settings.

“We have collected almost 20,000 air, water and soil samples throughout [the Central Command area],” Postlewaite said. “They’ve been analyzed for any hazardous materials. We take that we catalogue it and archive it, and it’s available for us to go back to if we need to. That said, the number of hazards we’ve identified in these 20,000 samples is relatively small.”

The group analyzes water for organic chemicals, metals and anything else that may present health hazards, he said. “We do the same thing with the soil – particularly looking for any spills that may have occurred, any contamination from previous operations,” said he added. “For the air, we analyze it for a variety of different things.”

The Army studied air samples from around Iraq and Afghanistan. Its Advanced Particulate Matter Study was published in 2010.

“There were literally thousands of air samples collected for just that study from 15 different locations throughout the theater,” Postlewaite said. “They were analyzed for dozens of different potential air hazards. When all the analysis was done, there were more than 6 million data points that came out of the study.”

The study indicated that the sand and dust present in the theater was “not demonstrably different” form the sand and dust in desert regions of the United States, he said. “The proportions of various types of calcium and various compounds were a bit different, but there was nothing that stood out as a health hazard that affects our people,” Postlewaite said.

The air in cities was affected by smog, and the samples taken at bases were able to measure pollution from burn pits, Postlewaite said. “For those installations that still happened to have burn pits at the time, those air samples tended to indicate the organic material that was burned from the fires,” he said.

The burn pits were a necessity when forces first moved into Iraq and Afghanistan, he said, because accumulated garbage causes public health problems. Neither Iraq nor Afghanistan had an infrastructure -- no garbage trucks, no landfills. So commanders had to burn the waste, Postlewaite said.

“At the smallest camps, it could have been a single trench in the ground or a barrel that burned once daily,” he said. As the size of an installation increased, the size of the burn pit increased also. At the largest installations, acres were set aside for waste disposal.

What went into the pits were the same things that go into dumps anywhere in the United States – garbage and refuse from offices and living quarters.

“Early on in the operation, there was also a lot of construction going on, so there may have been a fair amount of wood [and] some plastic materials. We’ve had reports of certain things that we wouldn’t condone burning today that probably were burned,” Postlewaite said. “Since that time, very stringent regulations have been put into place that now severely limit what can be burned in the burn pits and what can’t.”

All those things that could potentially generate a hazardous emission of some sort are now eliminated from the waste stream, he said.

“We’re reasonably certain that for those burn pits that continue to exist based on the materials being burned now, we don’t have nearly the concerns with the health impacts that we had to begin with,” Postlewaite said.
In Iraq, the burn pits were replaced by incinerators. Also, Iraq is developing the infrastructure to handle waste. A plan is in place to close all of the burn pits in Afghanistan by the end of the year, Postlewaite said.
Complaints about respiratory problems from burn pit smoke began about four years ago, he said. The department treated these allegations seriously and began investigating as soon as possible, he said.

“The reports coming out of the vet population covered a wide waterfront – skin, respiratory, cancer autoimmune conditions,” he said. “You would expect with a common exposure to see a common type of illness, and we weren’t seeing that.”

The department did a complete risk assessment following Environmental Protection Agency protocols at the burn pit at Balad Air Base, Iraq. “We looked at that in detail and we could come up with no measureable, anticipated risk based on the exposure to the air sampling that we accomplished for the burn pit smoke samples,” Postlewaite said.

Again, he added, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Still, DOD will continue to collect medical surveillance data and will continue lab and clinical research on inhaling smoke and dust, Postlewaite said. The department will also continue to reach out to medical experts in and out of government for advice, he added.

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service



 

Navy Names Littoral Combat Ship Little Rock

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced today that the next freedom-class littoral combat ship (LCS) will be named the USS Little Rock (LCS 9).

Little Rock is the second ship to bear the name of the capital city in Arkansas. The USS Little Rock (CL-92/CLG-4/CG-4) was originally a Cleveland-class light cruiser that served after World War II, and was one of six to be converted to a Galveston-class guided missile cruiser. She was decommissioned in 1976 and now holds a place of honor as a museum ship in Buffalo, N.Y

Little Rock will be designed to defeat growing littoral threats and provide access and dominance in the coastal waters.  A fast, agile surface combatant, the LCS provides the required war fighting capabilities and operational flexibility to execute focused missions close to the shore, such as mine warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and surface warfare.

The LCS Class consists of two different hull forms, the Freedom variant and Independence variant – a semi-planing monohull and an aluminum trimaran – designed and built by two industry teams; Lockheed Martin and Austel USA.  These seaframes will be outfitted with reconfigurable payloads, called mission packages, which can be changed out quickly as combat needs demand.  These mission packages are supported by special detachments that will deploy manned and unmanned vehicles and sensors in support of mine, undersea and surface warfare missions.

Little Rock will be 378 feet in length, have a waterline beam of 57 feet, displace approximately 3,000 tons, and make speed in excess of 40 knots.  The construction will be led by a Lockheed Martin industry team in Marinette, Wis.

Additional information about Freedom class Littoral Combat Ships is available online at http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=1650&ct=4 .

Carter: Warfighter Support Needs 'Fast Lane'

The Defense Department must institute a "fast lane" that is more agile than traditional requirements, acquisition and budgeting, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics said here today.


Ashton B. Carter told an audience at the Brookings Institution that supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan calls for rapidly fielded new capability, agile logistics and careful contingency contracting.

"Going forward, we need to institutionalize a fast lane in the department in some way," Carter said. "It's not only necessary for the wars we're in, it's really necessary for the tempo of technological change and the way the world changes."

Today, the Pentagon's ad hoc fast lane is formally called the Senior Integration Group, chaired by Carter and Robert Neller, director of operations for the Joint Staff, and created by former Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.

"That is the mechanism Secretary Gates set up to overcome his frustration with the department's general inability to be agile and quick, which is true," Carter said.

"The system we have is designed to be deliberate and not to be quick," he added. "That's a problem all by itself, even in our normal programs, [and] it's completely unacceptable when you're in the middle of a war."
Carter, who just returned from Afghanistan, said the focus of activity there now "is to ensure that the force in Afghanistan, which President [Barack] Obama has directed be reduced in size, nevertheless continues to grow in capability."

That objective can be achieved in several ways, Carter said.

One is to continue to provide more of what Carter calls enablers -- intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR, technology and the capability to detect roadside bombs.

"The second way we can increase capability is by using fewer deployed soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to accomplish tasks that don't require uniforms or physical presence in Afghanistan," he said. A long-standing example, Carter told the group, is the way the United States flies remotely controlled unmanned Predator and Reaper aerial vehicles from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada.

Making the Afghan security forces more capable in the years ahead is another way to reduce the number of U.S. forces while maintaining capability in Afghanistan, he said.

Describing actions being pursued in the area of rapid and responsive acquisition and fielding, Carter said a second surge of equipment to Afghanistan that Gates began in January is now delivering.

"You can see that everywhere in the country," he said.

The number of aerostats -- moored balloons enabled with sensors for persistent ISR -- is doubling, for example, he said. These, he explained, are especially critical for use over outlying facilities and roadways.

Unattended ground sensors are becoming useful in Afghanistan now that more areas are being cleared and held, Carter said, and the all-terrain, mine-resistant, ambush-protected armored fighting vehicles in Afghanistan are getting underbody improvement kits that increase their resistance to bombs.

Clearing and holding areas in solidifying security in Afghanistan also increases the number of dismounted operations, he added, "and they require somewhat different kinds of equipment and tactics than the mounted operations that were the focus initially."

Troops are learning and adjusting to a changing enemy and from their own experience, he said, and training still is critical.

"I'll be going out to training ranges in the next couple of months to make sure that troops rotating into Afghanistan have seen and had the experience of training on the equipment before they fall in on it in country," Carter said.

In the area of logistics, "the miracle of 2010" continues in Afghanistan, thanks to the efforts of "Log Nation" -- the totality of military commands, defense contractors, DOD civilians and commercial contractors who support DOD logistics.

"It's amazing what Log Nation is capable of doing and does every day there," he said.

The miracle, Carter said, refers to getting tens of thousands of troops and their equipment into "a land-locked country with very parsimonious internal lines of communication" for the Afghanistan surge.

In the area of contracting, he said, "we do a lot of contingency contracting," or direct contracting support to tactical and operational forces, to ensure warfighters have what they need.

"[We're] always trying there to balance effectiveness and efficiency and make sure we have enough contracting officers [and] contracting officer representatives," he added. "We still have work to do, but we are making progress not using cash payments and otherwise trying to minimize opportunities for fraud, corruption or just a bad deal as we do our contingency contracting."

Meanwhile, back at home, Carter said, there are wars of a different kind -- budget wars.

Gates and his successor, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta have made it clear that the Defense Department is entering a new era in defense spending that is going to require changing the way it does business, Carter said. Obama and Congress have also made it clear, he added, that the defense budget, which is about 20 percent of the total federal budget, must be part of the reduction in spending over the next 12 years.

"As we have assessed how to accomplish [this] task, first Secretary Gates and now Secretary Panetta have undertaken a comprehensive review of the impact of budget reductions on force structure and capability and ultimately on missions and America's role in the world," Carter said.

Comprehensive, he added, means that everything must be on the table.
The comprehensive review is under way and making progress, he said, but it already has revealed that:

-- The new era will require a different mind set for government and industry managers and their congressional overseers;

-- It's important to proceed not by subtraction alone but by a vision of the military needed in the future; and


-- However large the budget is, every dollar must count.

"The president, the secretary and the taxpayers are going to expect us to make every dollar we do get count," Carter said. "In short, they want better value for the defense dollar," he added. "It's what the country should expect, no matter what size the budget is."

By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

Army Releases June Suicide Information

The Army released suicide data today for the month of June.  Among active-duty soldiers, there were nine potential suicides:  none have been confirmed as suicide, and nine remain under investigation.  For May 2011, the Army reported 21 potential suicides among active-duty soldiers.  Since the release of that report, one case has been removed because the manner of death was ruled accidental, two cases have been confirmed as suicide, and 18 cases remain under investigation.

During June, among reserve component soldiers who were not on active duty, there were five potential suicides:  one has been confirmed as suicide, and four remain under investigation.  For May 2011, the Army reported six potential suicides among not-on-active-duty soldiers.  Since the release of that report, one case has been added for a total of seven cases.  Two cases have been confirmed as suicide, and five cases remain under investigation.

"Early recognition of high risk behavior associated with administrative, legal and other disciplinary actions presents intervention opportunities for leaders, law enforcement personnel and service providers to mitigate negative outcomes, specifically suicidal behavior," said Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, director of the Army Health Promotion and Risk Reduction Task Force.

In response to this, the U.S. Army Military Police School has incorporated training into all professional military education courses to alert military police to the effects of stress caused by investigations or other disciplinary actions that can lead to acts of self harm. 

McGuire, who is also the provost marshal general of the Army, recently implemented a new “Risk Notification Memorandum” to field commanders to highlight the potential risk to soldiers who are subject to a serious felony investigation.  This notification is provided by Criminal Investigation Command to commanders upon the initiation of an investigation on one of their soldiers.

Soldiers and families in need of crisis assistance can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.  Trained consultants are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and can be contacted by dialing 1-800-273-TALK (8255), from OCONUS using the appropriate country access code, or by visiting their website at www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org .

The Army's comprehensive list of Suicide Prevention Program information is located at http://www.preventsuicide.army.mil              

Army leaders can access current health promotion guidance in newly revised Army Regulation 600-63 (Health Promotion) at: http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r600_63.pdf and Army Pamphlet 600-24 (Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention) at http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/p600_24.pdf .

Suicide prevention training resources for Army families can be accessed at http://www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/suicide/training_sub.asp?sub_cat=20 (requires Army Knowledge Online access to download materials).

Information about Military OneSource is located at www.militaryonesource.com or by dialing the toll-free number 1-800-342-9647for those residing in the continental United States.  Overseas personnel should refer to the Military OneSource Website for dialing instructions for their specific location.

Information about the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program is located at http://www.army.mil/csf/ .

The Defense Center for Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) Outreach Center can be contacted at 1-866-966-1020, via electronic mail at Resources@DCoEOutreach.org and at www.dcoe.health.mil.

The website for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is http://www.afsp.org/  and the Suicide Prevention Resource Council site is found at http://www.sprc.org/index.asp.

The website for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors is www.TAPS.org, and they can be reached at -1-800-959-TAPS (8277)

Newest Medal of Honor Recipient Says He's 'Still Me'

The Army Ranger who received the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama at a July 12 White House ceremony told reporters yesterday he's still the same person.

Army Sgt. 1st. Class Leroy A. Petry describes the combat action of May 26, 2008, near Paktia, Afghanistan, in which he distinguished himself by saving the lives of two fellow Rangers. Petry was inducted into the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes, July 13, 2011, a day after receiving the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama. Petry lost his hand in the 2008 fight, but now uses a state-of-the-art prosthesis. DOD photo by R.D. Ward (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Leroy A. Petry spoke to the media here after a ceremony inducting him into the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes.

Petry smiled often as he answered questions. The medal, to him, is mostly something he wears with his dress uniform, he told reporters.

"It's a decoration, it's not a depiction of who I am," he said. "So I am still me. The medal is just a decoration that they thought I deserved."

Petry was assigned to Company D, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, when he took part in the operation that earned him the nation's most prestigious medal.

On May 26, 2008, Petry -- then a staff sergeant -- and a platoon-plus of nearly 60 Rangers flew by helicopter into an area of Afghanistan's Paktia province on a rare daylight raid to kill or capture a high-value Taliban target.

"I was a little bit nervous, because daylight raids are rare for us," he said, adding that Rangers normally launch such raids at night.

The men came under fire as soon as they landed, he said.

"Just to give you an idea of the terrain, it was a lot of mud walls, some farm fields ... a rural environment [with] four or five different little compounds within a small area."

During the now widely reported firefight that followed, Petry was shot through both legs, which he said felt at the time as "a quick strike of the hammer" on his left thigh. He found cover with two younger Rangers, and reported by radio to the unit's command element.

A grenade exploded almost on top of the three men, and then Petry turned his head to see another grenade on the ground between him and the other Rangers.

"I immediately knew it wasn't one of ours, because we haven't used 'pineapple' grenades in quite some time," he said. "[My] immediate reaction was, get it out of here." Petry said the grenade was "definitely inside the kill radius."

"The kill radius is about 5 meters. We would have [been] definitely ... if not definitely dead, not pretty, to say the least," he said.

He grabbed the grenade and hurled it away from the men's position, but it exploded as he released it, severing his right hand.

"I didn't feel any pain," he said. "I looked at it. I remember it so vividly -- the blood coming out, oozing ... the radius and ulna poking up about a quarter of an inch. The smell was a mixture of blood, gunpowder, burn."
His arm "looked pretty grotesque," he said, but after a split second he fell back on his training, applied a tourniquet and radioed in: "We're still taking heavy contact. We're getting small-arms fire. I just lost my hand. Over."

Petry was evacuated out shortly after that, but the Army took note of his actions that day, ultimately resulting in the citation a White House audience heard this week. "Although picking up and throwing the live grenade grievously wounded Staff Sergeant Petry, his gallant act undeniably saved his fellow Rangers from being severely wounded or killed," the citation reads in part.

One Ranger, Army Spc. Christopher Gathercole, died in that day's fighting, and Petry said every year the men of Company D gather to remember him and celebrate his life. Petry said he is honored to have Gathercole's name on a list of fallen Rangers inscribed on his prosthetic arm.

The bionic hand he now uses amazes him, he said.

Though "it's never going to be as fast as a real hand to pull a trigger again or bounce a basketball," he acknowledged, his prosthetic arm accepts attachments designed for golf, a new sport for him, and a set of culinary knives he said he uses constantly in the kitchen to cook for his family.

"I really haven't found too much that I need help with," he said.

Petry said his recovery after his injuries was "the greatest time for me."

"I've learned so much from other service members who have been wounded and injured, he said, expressing amazement at the resilience he has seen in his fellow wounded warriors. "They're all wanting to go back [and] do some type of work," he said.

Severely injured warriors display leadership from the lowest levels, Petry said.
"Nobody thinks they're ever the worst," he said. "We try to motivate each other."

Petry still is a Ranger, and said when the time came to decide, he knew he would miss his "Ranger brothers" if he left the service.

"A job had come up where I could mentor, lead and still help the Army," he said. "So I chose to help wounded soldiers ... and their families, for the Special Operations Command in Florida."

He works harder and longer hours in that job than he did as a combat soldier, Petry said, "but it's just as rewarding."

Petry said while he never expected to earn the Medal of Honor, he wears it on behalf of his heroes in uniform.
"All these officers and sergeant majors ... and young men and women when they join the service, who end up putting 20 years in, and still dedicated and saying, 'Yes, I will, yes, I will -- 30 years, 30-plus years," he said. "How is that not a hero?"

Petry said his message to the country and his fellow service members is, "Never forget ... your fallen heroes who paid the ultimate sacrifice, but embrace the living, those continuing to serve in the uniformed services and those overseas continuing in the fight."

By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service



 

Army Hosts National Conference to Get Wounded Warrior's Recommendations on Improving Services

Alexandria, VA―The Army Wounded Warrior Program (AW2) is hosting its seventh annual symposium on July 18-22 in Orlando, Fla., to identify the most important care and transition issues facing the Army's wounded, ill and injured. More than 90 wounded, ill and injured soldiers, veterans and family members will serve as delegates in a week of intensive focus group discussions based on their personal experiences to identify the top five issues in soldier care, which will be presented to Army leadership for resolution.

The AW2 Symposium is part of the Army's overall mission to continue improving care for wounded soldiers and their families. Issues raised at previous symposiums have subsequently resulted in improvements such as expanded facilities to treat traumatic brain injuries and the creation of a benefit package for non-dependent primary caregivers of severely wounded soldiers.

The Symposium will also focus on supporting wounded warrior families. Delegates' children will participate in Operation Purple®, an urban adventure camp hosted by the National Military Family Association. Delegates will also have the opportunity to engage with 24 community-based organizations, which are part of the AW2 Community Support Network.

WHEN:	Tuesday, July 19 at 10:00 a.m.
WHAT:	Press Conference on 2011 Army Wounded Warrior Program Symposium -Interview opportunities -Community Support Exhibit Hall -Broadcast quality B-roll footage
WHO:	-Col. Gregory Gadson, director, Army Wounded Warrior Program -Mrs. Sarah Gannaway, spouse of soldier with amputations and children in Operation Purple® -Retired Sgt. Maj. Taylor Njagu, severely wounded veteran with post traumatic stress disorder
WHERE:	Rosen Centre Hotel, Salon 24, 9840 International Drive

AW2 assists and advocates for the most severely wounded soldiers, veterans and their families, wherever they are located, regardless of their military status, for as long as it takes. AW2 is part of the Warrior Transition Command (WTC)—a major subordinate command under the U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM). WTC's mission is to develop, coordinate and integrate the Army's Warrior Care and Transition Program for wounded, ill and injured soldiers, veterans and their families. For more information, visit the WTC website, www.WTC.army.mil, follow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/armyWTC or join Facebook at http://facebook.com/armyAW2.

Cartwright Addresses Drawdowns, Budget With Reporters

Defense Department officials are applying new ways of thinking to everything from cost saving initiatives to the nuclear triad, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here today.


Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright replied to wide-ranging questions as part of a Defense Writers Group meeting this morning. From the military drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan to tightening budgets and smarter acquisitions processes, Cartwright spoke of the decision-making under way among top Pentagon leaders.

As vice chairman, Cartwright chairs the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, co-chairs the Defense Acquisition Board, and is a member of the National Security Council Deputies Committee, the Nuclear Weapons Council and the Missile Defense Executive Board.

On Afghanistan, Cartwright said Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, whom the Senate confirmed on June 30 to replace Army Gen. David H. Petraeus as commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, must spend the next few months determining which units should be removed from the country, and when, as part of the drawdown.

"It's pace more than scale that import in these first few months," Cartwright said. "What you take out will set the battle space geometry for all the moves after that. That's something we have to take time with, and we want to give General Allen as much time as possible to do that.

"The piece I'm most worried about is not necessarily the number of forces coming out, but the timing," he said. "I don't want to create a hole in the battle space."

Also, Cartwright said, it is the combat "enablers" – the support functions such as intelligence, reconnaissance, and technology, and aircraft and logistics – "that really tend to drive the factors we lay out." Those units are not likely to be among the first to leave Afghanistan, he said.

As for the drawdown in Iraq, Cartwright said, the Iraqis need to decide soon if they want U.S. forces in those specialties that Iraqi forces lack, such as logistics and air mobility, to stay in the country past the agreed-upon deadline of Dec. 31.

"Those answers really are on the shoulders of the Iraqi people," he said. "We have a say in it, for sure, but it's they who need to decide if they want a force to stay behind, and what the role of that force would be."

Such a decision will take time, because it requires an act of Iraq's legislative body, Cartwright said. A change in the agreement would have to spell out how any remaining U.S. forces would be protected and their rights to protect Iraqis and their assets, he said.

A recent uptick in insurgent attacks in Iraq has been increasingly deadly and "we want to make sure we have the ability to protect ourselves, as well as those around us," the general said. Currently, U.S. troops must contend with a slow process of trying to secure a judicial warrant against insurgent suspects, then determine what role they and the Iraqi forces will play.

"That's a slow process for chasing rocket attacks, so those lethal attacks are starting to worry us," he said.
Another area Cartwright spoke about is the ability of the department's acquisitions process to field equipment quickly. Officials began working last year to make a more flexible system in which the urgent needs of warfighters would be calculated against perfect research and development and costs, he said.

"One size doesn't fit all," Cartwright said. "Sometimes a sense of urgency changes the risk calculus." In those cases, he said, "a 30-percent solution is good enough, because it's going to save lives."

On the opposite end of the acquisition spectrum, "which is really how we do business today," Cartwright acknowledged, is "a very risk-averse" protocol of spending as much time and money as is necessary to create perfect vehicles and equipment.

Where the department is headed, Cartwright said, is a middle method of procurement in which vehicles and equipment are built with open architecture to be flexible enough to field faster, then be adapted as threats change. An example, he said, is the Predator unmanned aircraft, which was adapted from analog video technology to digital.

As for the budget, Cartwright acknowledged that he and others are looking even beyond the additional $400 billion in cost savings President Barack Obama has asked department officials to find. The general said he is doing so on his own accord to offer different options in savings.

"I'm certainly doing budget drills beyond $400 billion," Cartwright said. Looking at other, sometimes more expensive options, he said, "you may make different decisions."

"We're doing due diligence," he added.

Looking out in the first three years of cost savings, Cartwright said, readiness and operating costs are the first considerations. In the second three years, the number and structure of forces is under consideration, he said. Beyond six years, he said, infrastructure and entitlements are evaluated.

Asked how budget constraints affect combatant command's requests, Cartwright said the grand strategy is about matching ends and means.

"We are not limitless on our resources. ... They ask us for things we can't give them, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't ask," he said.

Cartwright also was asked about the nuclear triad of air, sea and land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles. He said he is concerned the military is not getting its money's worth on bombers, and that he would like to see more discussion about moving to unmanned bombers.

"I'm known as the bomber hater, I guess," he said, noting that the military increasingly buys far fewer bombers for the same cost. "I'm worried that we're kind of pricing ourselves out of the market with the approach we're taking. If we're going to go out and spend billions of dollars on something less than 20 [bombers], then I question the investment. Building five or 10 of something is not going do it. I want us to think in terms of hundreds again."

Cartwright said he also would like to see more discussion of long-term U.S. nuclear deterrence, such as what nuclear deterrence should look like in 2020 and whether the triad should reflect different approaches to different potential threats. "I think we haven't leveraged our intellectual capital on that," he said.

By Lisa Daniel
American Forces Press Service




 

First Marine Corps Female Commander of Training Depot

Brigadier General Lori Reynolds is Marine Corps' first female general to command Paris Island recruit depot.

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Medal of Honor Recipient Joins Fellow Heroes in ‘Hall’

The second living recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was inducted into the Hall of Heroes at the Pentagon today.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Leroy A. Petry, who was awarded the Medal of Honor yesterday by President Barack Obama, was inducted into the Hall of Heroes during a ceremony hosted by Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta.

“This is really a great privilege for me, as one of my first acts as Secretary of Defense, to be able to honor a great American hero,” Panetta said. “I've had a long career in this town. I've worked in a number of capacities, but I can't tell you what a great honor it is for me personally to honor someone like Sergeant Petry, an Army Ranger, whose historic actions saved the lives of other soldiers.”

“I often say that the greatest test of life is whether you make a difference,” he continued. “Someone who saves the lives of others makes a difference, and that's what you did.”

The defense secretary talked about Petry’s heroic efforts and commended Navy Adm. Eric T. Olson, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, for the ongoing efforts of his troops.

“Most Americans can't imagine the kind of life [and] death decisions Sergeant Petry had to face that day in Paktika [province]. These are the burdens that confront the men and women in uniform serving in harm's way every day,” Panetta said.

“A member of the U.S. Army's storied 75th Ranger Regiment, Sergeant Petry's actions speak to the extraordinary accomplishments of the special operations forces that have been at the center of the fight this past decade,” Panetta continued.

“Admiral Olson … I can't tell you how important they've been to our ability to take on the mission that we've been assigned, particularly to dismantle, disrupt, and ultimately defeat al-Qaida. It was a special forces team that we employed on that attack on the compound that held [Osama] bin Laden,” he said.

Panetta led the group of senior military officials in welcoming Petry into the Hall of Heroes during a the unveiling of his name on a plaque.

“Today, Leroy Petry's name joins the hallowed ranks of other Medal of Honor recipients listed on this wall. He is truly a representative of a new generation of Americans who have answered the call during almost a decade of war,” Panetta said.

“In paying tribute to him,” Panetta said, “we also celebrate a generation that is fighting for a better life, a better America, and a better world.”

Petry expressed his gratitude as he stood before some of his fellow rangers, four other Medal of Honor recipients and a slew of senior military leadership.

“I’m humbled by this ceremony, your words, and your presence. I particularly want to thank my wife, Ashley, [and] our children … it was their love and support that kept me going on this journey,” Petry said.

“And I would like to thank my fellow rangers … the 75th Ranger Regiment has been continuously deployed over 3,500 days since the start of the war on terrorism. During that time, 55 of my fellow ranger brothers have been killed in both Afghanistan and Iraq,” he said.

Petry passionately implored the nation to remember his fellow service members who gave their lives for their country.

“As you have recognized me today, I ask that you continue to pay tribute and never forget those rangers and all other men and women of the armed services that have made the ultimate sacrifice,” he said.

“Please keep their families in your thoughts and prayers. It has been my honor to serve shoulder-to-shoulder with all servicemembers, defending our nation for almost 12 years. And I look forward to my continued service with you,” Petry said. “Thank you and rangers lead the way.”

Other senior military leaders spoke during the induction, praising Petry for his selfless actions.

“Sergeant Petry joins a small, elite group of American warriors who hold our nation’s highest military honor. Thank you so much for being here and your continued service as well,” Army Secretary John McHugh said.
Army Chief of Staff General Martin E. Dempsey described the Petry family as “all-Americans” as he spoke of Petry’s service.

“This is an all-American family. They are tight, they love each other, they are supportive of each other, [and] they could not be more polite and courteous,” he said.

“When I think about the Hall of Heroes, I’m struck by how fortunate we are as a country to have generation after generation [of] men and women like Sergeant First Class Petry,” Dempsey said. “He represents the best of our nation and today we honor his valor, unbending.”

Olson, the SOCOM commander, spoke directly to Petry, on behalf of the Special Forces community to which they both belong.

“Leroy, you epitomize the spirit and ethos of our nation’s most intrepid warriors,” he said. “On behalf of a grateful and respectful special operations community, I salute you.”

By By Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.
American Forces Press Service

Key Committee: Whack Commissaries

Among the bills approved by the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee this week was the “Caring for Camp Lejeune Veterans Act of 2011” (S. 277), sponsored by Sen. Burr (R-NC), the senior Republican on the Committee. The bill would authorize VA health care for former military family members and veterans and certain family members stationed at Camp Lejeune between 1957 and 1987, when the water at the base is acknowledged to have been contaminated with carcinogens.

MOAA indicated its support for the bill and other pending measures in a letter to Committee Chair Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Sen. Burr.

But that was before the committee voted unanimously, without notice or hearing, to fund the care by eliminating the federal subsidy for military commissaries and directing consolidation of all DoD commissaries and exchanges.

MOAA strongly opposes this sneak attack on the military benefit package.

First, the Veterans Affairs Committee has no jurisdiction over and no knowledge of DoD commissary and exchange systems, which are under the purview of the Armed Services Committee.

Second, they propose virtually dismantling the commissary system without any hearings or other effort to assess the adverse impact of such a dramatic cut to a core military benefit. There are good reasons why the Armed Services Committees, who actually understand the commissary and exchange programs, have ardently rejected similar proposals for the last four decades.

Third, they seek to poach DoD funds to pay for VA health care at a time when DoD personnel budgets already are under threat.

MOAA supports expanding VA care to cover Camp Lejeune veterans, but the Veterans Affairs Committee needs to find another way to fund it besides raiding the military commissary system.

Make no mistake, without the federal subsidy, military commissaries would eventually go out of business, as prices would have to rise, and savings to customers would be lost.

The commissary is one of DoD’s most cost-effective people programs. Every dollar of the subsidy translates to nearly three dollars of benefit value to patrons (and considerably more than that for lower-grade enlisted families). Where else can the Pentagon get that kind of compensation bang for the buck?

Use MOAA’s suggested message to urge your senators to reject this attack on military commissaries.

This message is listed on the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) to read
more click here.

Army Ranger to Receive Medal of Honor

Sergeant First Class Leroy Petry, a wounded Army Ranger will become the second living Medal of Honor recipient next week. (Tuesday July 12, 2011 @ 1400)

VIEW VIDEO>>

Panetta Vows to Continue Fighting Taliban

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta told Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen based here today that the “most important thing to do now is to continue this fight” against the Taliban and al-Qaida.

The secretary also told service members that their service is making a difference for both Afghanistan and America.

Panetta made his first trip as defense secretary just a week after taking office. He arrived in Kabul on Saturday, and left for Baghdad today.

“It was important for my first trip to be able to come out to the war zone to meet with the young men and women who are putting their lives on the line on behalf of our country,” Panetta told Marines at this desolate base in Regional Command Southwest. “Thank you for your service, for your sacrifice and for your duty.”

The secretary arrived at the base this morning after meeting with Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, Interior Minister Bismullah Khan, International Security Assistance Force Commander Army Gen.

David Petraeus and Army Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, the commander of the NATO Training Mission to Afghanistan. The men discussed a range of issues from the training of Afghan soldiers and police to how to affect the transition to Afghan security control by 2014.

At Camp Dwyer, the secretary met with the commanders of Task Force Leatherneck Regimental Combat Team-1, Brig. Gen. Lewis Craparotta and Col. Dave Furness. He had an off-the-record lunch with junior officers.

Panetta visited with an Army medical evacuation crew and the staff and patients at the 115thCombat Support Hospital before moving to the other side of the airfield and observing Afghan army training.

He spoke to more than 250 Marines and sailors at the base chapel.

“Everything I’ve seen here proves to me that you are making a helluva difference in terms of the fight that we’re conducting here,” Panetta said. “You have done everything the president of the United States has asked you to do.”

The base is deep in Helmand province – once a strategic stronghold of the Taliban and their al-Qaida allies. The security bubble has grown to include most of the province, although the Marines and their Afghan allies still face tough fighting in and around Sangin.

Still, Marines leaders told Panetta that they had “neutralized” the Taliban in the area. An Afghan commander in the area told the secretary that he was more worried about infiltration from Pakistan than from local insurgents. The Marines and their Afghan allies have given the people of the province the opportunity to choose their own leaders, Panetta said.

And the Marines are working to build up the Afghan army and police so ultimately they can take over security.

Panetta told the Marines that the effort in the country is headed in the right direction. “You have my commitment that we will continue to head in that right direction until we have accomplished this mission,” he said. “Too many people have given their lives, too much blood has been spilled – both on the Afghan side and the American side – not to apply the effort to accomplish the mission for which they gave their lives.

“You have my commitment that we are going to stay,” he continued. “We’re going to continue to move forward, we’re going to continue to try to accomplish the mission of transitioning to the Afghans.”
The secretary also committed to protect those who protect the country.

“I will do everything in my power to make sure that you have the best support possible – best equipment, best training and best support for your families,” he said. “You deserve no less for putting your lives on the line.”
 
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

President Considers Tax Credit to Hire Veterans

A tax credit for companies that hire military veterans could be the next step in helping the acutely underemployed group, President Barack Obama suggested yesterday in his Twitter town hall meeting. The president addressed many economic issues surrounding his theme of how to reduce the federal deficit, and was asked about jobs for veterans while fielding questions submitted on Twitter.

A Twitter user asked the president, "Can you give companies a tax break if they hire an honorably discharged veteran?"

That, Obama said, is a subject he's discussing with his staff.

"We've got all these young people coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan [who] have made incredible sacrifices [and] have taken on incredible responsibilities," the president said. "You see some 23-year-old who's leading a platoon in hugely dangerous circumstances, making decisions[and]operating complex
technologies. These are folks who can perform. But unfortunately, what we're seeing is a lot of these young veterans have a higher unemployment rate than people who didn't serve. And that makes no sense."

The president said one idea under discussion is to combine a tax credit for companies that hire veterans with a campaign to get private companies to "do the right thing" and hire additional veterans.

An outreach program to hire veterans already exists in the federal government, the president noted.

"We've [put] huge emphasis on ramping up our outreach to veterans and hiring veterans," Obama said, "and this has been a top priority of mine.

"The notion that these guys who are sacrificing for our freedom and our security end up coming home and not being able to find a job, I think, is unacceptable," he added.

By Terri Moon Cronk
American Forces Press Service

Vietnam War 50th Anniversary Commemoration Program Director

The Department of Defense (DoD) announced today that Retired Army Lt. Gen. Claude M. “Mick” Kicklighter has been appointed director of DoD Vietnam 50th Anniversary Commemoration Program.

Kicklighter, a Vietnam veteran with 35 years’ service in the U.S. Army, served as executive director of the United States of America 50th Anniversary of World War II Commemoration Committee, and provided oversight for the writing of the plan for the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Korean War.  Most recently, he served as the director of the Center for Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security, at George Mason University.

The DoD Vietnam 50th Anniversary Commemoration Program is partnered with other federal agencies, veterans groups, state, local government and non-government organizations to:

• Thank and honor veterans of the Vietnam War, including personnel who were held as prisoners of war or listed as missing in action, for their service and sacrifice on behalf of the United States and to thank and honor the families of these veterans. 
• Highlight the service of the armed forces during the Vietnam War and the contributions of federal agencies and governmental and non-governmental organizations that served with, or in support of, the armed forces. 
• Pay tribute to the contributions made on the home front by the people of the United States during the Vietnam War. 
• Highlight the advances in technology, science, and medicine related to the military research conducted during the Vietnam War. 
• Recognize the contributions and sacrifices made by the allies of the United States during the Vietnam War.

For more information call 877-387-9951 or visit the official website at http://www.vietnamwar50th.com.

Fort Hood Commander Refers Hasan to Court-Martial

Fort Hood Commander Army Lt. Gen. Donald M. Campbell Jr. will refer the capital murder case against Army Maj. Nidal M. Hasan to a general court-martial for trial, officials at Fort Hood, Texas, said today. Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the Nov. 5, 2009, attack on troops readying to deploy to Afghanistan.

Campbell, who also commands 3rd Corps and serves as a general court-martial convening authority, made the decision after considering all matters submitted by the defense counsel as well as the recommendations of Hasan's chain of command, the Article 32 investigating officer and his own legal advisor, Fort Hood officials said.

The court-martial in the Hasan case is authorized to consider death as an authorized punishment.

An Article 32 hearing under the Uniform Code of Military Justice is similar to a civilian grand jury hearing.

After a case is referred to trial by court-martial, a military judge receives the case and eventually sets a schedule.

Hasan's arraignment likely is the first matter for a military judge to schedule. A military judge has yet to be named to the case.

At a military arraignment, the judge discusses the rights of the accused, including the right to counsel, and makes sure the accused understands his rights. A military judge usually calls on the accused through counsel to make motions for relief and enter pleas, which may be deferred to a later date.

The Fort Hood public affairs office will announce the arraignment date and location after the authorizes its publication.

By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

U.S. Troops on Target to Leave Iraq This Year

The United States intends to abide by its commitments in the 2008 U.S.-Iraq Security Agreement, including the obligation to complete the drawdown of U.S. forces there by the end of the year, Pentagon spokesman Marine Col. Dave Lapan said today.


Any news story that gives a number of U.S. troops remaining in Iraq after Dec. 31 is wrong, Lapan said.
"The process for troops to remain in the country after that date begins with an official request from the Iraqi government, and no such request has been made," he said. "Until the government of Iraq makes a request, there is no number."

Unless the Iraqi government makes such a request, there are no plans for a U.S. military presence there after this year, other than those DOD personnel assigned to the Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq.

Individual service members will be part of the U.S. embassy staff, as they are in most American embassies around the world and under authority of the Chief of Mission in Baghdad, Lapan said.

There are some 46,000 U.S. service members in Iraq today.

American officials have said the United States would be willing to have some troops remain in country for a limited time, if Iraq asks. Iraqi security forces, while increasingly capable, will have gaps in the defenses. The Iraqi air force, for example, is not prepared to defend the country against external threats, officials have said, and the Iraqi army and police still have shortcomings in intelligence fusion, sustainment and logistics. These are all areas DOD can provide support, Lapan said.

But it begins with an Iraqi request for American forces to remain past the deadline. If the Iraqi government makes the request, then officials of both countries will negotiate the number and status of the troops. Put another way, "the administration has made it clear that if the Iraqis make a request for us to maintain some presence, then we will consider that request," Lapan said.

U.S. officials have made it clear that the Iraqis need to decide about American military assistance soon. "The longer they wait to make a decision, it has an impact as to what we're able to do, once we start withdrawing forces," he said.

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

Court Orders Halt to 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Enforcement

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered the government to stop enforcing the terms of the law that prevents openly gay service members from being in the military.


The Defense Department will comply and is informing commands worldwide of the court's order, Pentagon spokesman Marine Corps Col. Dave Lapan said.

The court lifted a stay put in place Nov. 1. DOD and Justice Department lawyers are studying the ruling.
The stay was put in place after 9th Circuit Judge Virginia Phillips ruled the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law was unconstitutional. The case went to a three-judge panel on the Court of Appeals, which released its ruling today.

Since the court issued the stay in November, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed repeal of the 1993 law. "In the meantime, implementation of the DADT repeal voted by the Congress and signed into law by the president last December is proceeding smoothly, is well under way, and certification is just weeks away," Lapan said.

The repeal act calls for training the force and for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the secretary of defense to certify to the president that the conditions for repeal are met.

 By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service